Backpacker – August 2019

Play List

JULY/AUGUST 2019

26 BACKPACKER.COM

THE EXPERIENCE

Play List
WEEKENDS

TURN-BY-TURN FROM THE CRESCENT

MEADOW TRAILHEAD

1) Take the High Sierra Trail 10.6

miles east, threading together

lodgepole pine forest, alpine

meadows, and big views of the Great

Western Divide high above the Middle

Fork Kaweah River gorge, to Bearpaw

Meadow High Sierra Camp.

2) Next day, stay on the trail 1.6 miles.

3) Cross the wooden bridge over Lone

Pine Creek and veer east to stay on the

High Sierra Trail, which steadily

climbs 900 feet in 1.9 miles to the

Hamilton Lakes basin.

4) Retrace your steps 14. 3 miles to

the trailhead.

CAMPSITE 1 BEARPAW MEADOW (MILE 10.6)

Pass the Bearpaw Meadow High

Sierra Camp, a summer-staffed, rustic

backcountry lodge, and descend .1

mile to the first-come, first-serve

backpacking camp, tucked in a grove

of red firs and lodgepole pines. It lacks

the views of the tent cabins next door,

but it’s a lot cheaper. Good plan: Buy a

sunset beer at the adjacent High

Sierra Camp and toast all that money

you saved.

CAMPSITE 2 HAMILTON LAKES (MILE 14.3)

This hike’s pièce de résistance, the

Hamilton Lakes basin is truly a can’t-

go-wrong sor t of heaven. Pick a

T H E HIK E IN was great—like,

massive-gorges, snowcapped-peaks,

knock-your-socks-off great. But it’s

nothing—nothing— compa red t o t he

Ha m i lt on La kes ba si n. We crest t he

final set of switchbacks, and suddenly

we stand before a blue jewel of a lake

surrounded by thousand-foot-tall

granite walls. This is Yosemite on

steroids, a glacial cirque cut deep in the

Great Western Divide. Each tick of the clock

improves our already-awesome situation, as

sunset turns the rock coral, then starlight begins to

fleck t he sk y a nd , before I k now it , I’ve got a f ront-

row seat to the best dinner show in the Sierra. I don’t

know how tomorrow could possibly be better, but I

suspect it might be. By Emily Pennington

11

A CAMP

FOR KINGS

SEQUOIA NATIONAL

PARK, CALIFORNIA